All quotation marks retained as data.
All end-of-line hyphens have been removed, and the trailing part of a word has been joined to the preceding line.
All smart quotes have been converted into straight quotes.
[This text is machine generated and may contain errors.]
This issue is dedicated to Mr. Bruce Patterson and Mr. Allen Hallmark for-merly of the United States Army, Vietnam and the Editorial Board of Bragg Briefs. Mssrs. pattersib and Hallmark were honorably seperated from the Armed Forces of the United States in December, 1969.
BRAGG BRIEFS
BRAGG BRIEFS is published in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. It is free press published by active duty GI's stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina dedicated to establishing alternatives to the current military system.
Vol. 2 No. Christmas 1969
20� Donation
Free to Serviceman
OBRIEN CHARGE:
DROPPED
On the i December,
Landis R Coates of §
lL! Ith
CP
Special Train-
Comtr training unit
gg, informaed PVT David
that urtemartial char-
day AWOL
iropped.
came
ting between Com-
John J Tolson and
members of the Black Brigade and
mention was
ino
=e }
NJ AL i A,
at Fort B:
aBe eee
7 ¢ a
lV, aa DaSIC
J
]
A.
~ +
7 = Rte © a Gil
rcainad him *t, a ) ~1
es against nim 8 5 age Sa Se |
1 ' . wey 10O¢ ) he naan :
Lin wuanuaryvy tYOY naa peen A
= Be 31000 oY chance
CL PULLS Ull Ai ign ©
7s. a mec
weneradl
GI*S UNITED in which
injustices against O*Brien
Frederick Penn both mem-
bers of the Bragg Briefs editorial
board. Penn has also been instru-
mental in organizing the Black
Brigade. The meeting was the re-
sult of the so-called "Wachter In-
itiative", a personal letter from
G1*S UNITED member David Wachter
to General Tolson. The day after
the meeting, Military Intelligence
came in full force to Special
Training Company to conduct inter-
, OW +h + url; }
Vlews with those who
made of
and PFC
nave Known
and-worked with O*Brien during the
past 106 months.
O*Brien was restricted to the
Fort Bragg Military Reservation
for 8 months, then further re-
stricted to the basic training
center following an appearance at
the GI'S UNITED anti-war march in
Fayetteville on October the ilth
and press conferences in Baltimore
while he was on leave. The origin-
al restriction was imposed while
O*Brien was pending court-martial
for the AWOL. The court-martial
was postponed by a restraining
order from the Federal Courts,
pending decision on the legality
of his induction, the writ being
based on O'Brien's claim to con-
Scientious objection and subse-«
quent procedural errors made by
his draft board in handling the
case. O*Brien is still waiting
for a decision from the Fourth
Circuit Court of Appeals.
Continued on paze 2
il 3
ex Ce: = 2 |
"Words show a mans
wi +
wit,
meaning «
may
hee ar: hie
DUT actions his
a ]
cee: 3. Clie See te A hae
Ben Franklin
SOLDIERS a
IN STREETS
With chants of "One, Two,
Three, Four. We don't want your
lousy war,� and "What do-we want?
Peace! When do we want it? Now!"
approximately 600 marchers once
again shook up citizens of Fayet-
teville, North Carolina as they
paraded down the main street of
the town. Led by approximately
150 GIs, the protest, which
Started at the Quaker House on
Ray Avenue moved through town in
an orderly march which terminated
at Rowan Park. There the people
were entertained by speakers and
folk singers, among them were
Barbara Dane, Andrew Pulley, and
Dr. Gordon Livingston, formerly
of the 82d Abn. Div: and West
Point graduate.
The crowd, which consisted
primarily of students from sur-
rounding colleges gave the GIs
a standing ovation, and most when
questioned about their participa-
tion, indicated that they had
come to show the GIs that they
had not been forgotten in their
Struggle for freedom from mil-
itary oppression. As one student
from Chapel Hill said, It is the
responsibility of the civilians
Wi ~
\\
s\
6 6%
to show the soldiers that the ci-
vilians have not forgotten them.
We must show them that we not
only care, but are willing to
Support their struggle.
When those Gis present were
warned that they were under
Surveillance, the general atti-
tude was one of contempt, and the
air was filled with cat-calls and
jeers.
MI which was present was flat-
ly challenged to do something
about participation, and legally
their hands were tied. Nothing
(Continued Page 6)
FIRE
Three soldiers have died as a
result of a flash fire in the
612th Quartermaster Comoany on
November 26th. .
On the morning of November 26
the 612th had the monthly full
field inspection. The Comoany
Commander, Major Greer, noticed
in the course of his inspection
that there was adhesive on the
floor of the Headquarters platoon
latrine. This adhesive had been
there for several months because
the tile had been removed when
the latrine was renovated. Major
Greer susgested that this adhe-
Sive be removed. Staff Sergeant
Gomez was in charge of the la-
trine cleaning and he set a crew
to work. They did not have much
progress so Sergeant Gomez had
them secure a flammable liquid to
use on the floor along with the
electric buffer they had been us-
ing. The floor was saturated with
the liquid and the men began buf-~
fins; 9 spark from the buffer ig-
nited the liquid and set the bar-
racks on-fire. PFC George H Jessun,,
(Continued Page 2)
Christmas 1969
HAIRCUT REG CUT
On December 3, to the surprise
of most, a Policy Letter on Hair-
cuts descended from XVIII Air-
borne Corps & Ft Bragg. The letter
came on strong, reminding every-
one that this is a citizen's
Army and as such should reflect
the modes and customs of our
society within reason". Other
highlights of the letter: hair
would be well groomed 2-4
inches, sideburns could be full
and extend to approximately the
middle of the ear, and bangs
should be 4 inch to one inch
above the eyebrows.
The letter was a great
source of jubilation for the
EM*s who read it. Comments
such as these were recorded,
"Hey man, this is great.�
"I'm not getting a haircut.�
"The Army is a changing.�
The lifer's had quite a
different reaction. The letter
was met with great consternation
and scrutinization. CO's at
battalion level scratched their
ears and shook their heads.
Company Commanders failed to
read the letter to their men.
One First Sergeant thought it
was a trick by the clerks up
at Personnel,
After this befuddling initial
reaction the lifers adjusted
to this perversion of Army
discipline. CO's pointed to the
sentence that. stated: "Decisions
eee(0On lenghk of hair) should be
made by commanders on an indiv-
idual basis.� This was inter-
preted as justification for the
continuation of their present
haircut policies. Other lifers
ignored the letter and a few
openly stated that they would
not follow? ;
Moral: Old solde@rs never
change, they just harass away.
POSTSCRIPT: CORPS G-1l WILL
SUPPORT EM AT IG INVESTIGATIONS
IF THEIR HAIR LENGNH IS WITHIN
THE LIBERAL GUIDELINES AND WELL
GROOMED.
How about putting ALL of war on trial?�
BRAGG BRIEFS
_O'RBrien continued
It is difficult to know exactly
what or who effected O'Brien's re-
lease from restriction and charges.
In all probability, the charges a-
gainst him have been dropped in
order to facilitate his transfer;
Coates has already informed him
that he will be leaving Ft Bragg
in early January. Individuals who
are pending court-martialed cannot
be transferred without prior ap-
proval of Department of the Army.
There is certainly also the effort
to prevent further harm to the
Army*s public relations by what
could have and certainly would
have been said at the O*Brien
court-martial regarding his pol-
itical and religious repression,
the nature of his restriction -
especially the further restriction
to the basic training center in
October, and the fact that O'Brien
had been more than adequately pun-
ished through the restriction and
other harrasgment,
dope
- Fort Bragg is a sewer, Drugs
flow through the arteries of Fort
Bragg and permeate the entire
base. It is much more than a few Y
joints made of Hanoi Gold. As the
recent SP5 Partridge/Sp4 Delfoss ,
(50th Sig Bn) bust in Fayette-
ville's Haymont District indi-
cates, heroin, opium, methedrine
and LSD whose origin is New York
are now easily obtainable.
The publicized busts in Fay-
etteville are the top of an ice-
burg. Dope abounds in the Fort
Bragg/Fayetteville area yet busts
are rare on the military reserva-
tion itself. Any GI can tell you
that many barracks on the weekend
smell of the opium dens of old
China. There is great fear of the
CID and MI, but how many people
get busted on Bragg?
In the Nam dope is in wide use
Gis get caught every now and then
and face relatively light penal-
ties. It is tolerated by the mil-
itary and in combat zones very
open. This is so primarily be-
cause of the terrifying conse-
quences of messing with men armed
with automatic weapons.
At Fort Bragg the military has
a related, but different reason
for tolerating dope. Dope is an
escape from things as they are
and the Fort Bragg reality is not.
the best of worlds. The military
_uses dope to keep Fort Bragg
cool.
Temporary withdrawel, from the
military's point of view, is far
better than opem dissent in the
ranks and besides half of the
base would be in the stockade.
For if Fort Bragg really cracked
déwn on dope, there would be no
escape from ugly reality. GIs
would get together and join GI'S
UNITED, the Black Brigade, or al-
ternatively commit open acts of
defiance such as AWOL.
There are too many things
wrong with this world to escape
from on individual ego trips.
~Salvation from the Army does not
come from a tab or a needle. It
comes from organized action.
a ee
~ ae
roe eq 4
LT tela aan
.
+ "
\F .
-*
aig ~ f
.
.
b
Page 2
(Continued from Page 1)
SP4 Gregory C King, and PFC Larry
Salmon died from burns suffered in .
this blaze. The fourth man, SP4
James Willford received relatively
minor burns and was returned to
duty. GI*s UNITED feels that SSG,
Gomez, who has been formally char- .
ged with criminal negligence by
the Army, should be punished if he
is founa guilty.
We have a few more things to |
Say about Major Greer. Like where
was the ambulance on Holland Drop
zone November 29th when SP4 Law-
horn was run over by a forklift
during an airdrop? Like why were
the platoon sergeants permitted
access to sulfuric acid for use on
the shower room floors? In our OD=
inion, Major Greer may also have
been criminslly negligent in the
running of the 612th in resard to
the safety of his men. We charge
that he has let the career enlist-
ed men� run his company without
regard for the men's safety. We
demand an investigation into the |
workings of the 612th and the ad-
visability of removing Major Greer
as commanding officer.
RW gc
B
rey?
What is a massacre? Is it anything like a war?�
GI POWER
Througnout American society
people are getting tagether to
exert some control over the anon-
ymous institutions that direct
their lives. Students, blacks,
chicanos and Indians are doing
their thing. GIs, perhaps the
most oppressed group in all of
society, are no different,
We can get together and it
does not have to be around such
abstract, though highly important
issues as imperialism. Look ar-
ound you in the barracks. Who ~
tells you how to live, how shiney
the floor ought to be, the arran-
gement of our wall lockers and so
on? It is probably an E-6 who
lives off-post. Who inspects him?
The Army says that we are all
men, but it does not act that
way. It acts as if we don't know :
how to keep clean and that with-
out an outside NCO to supervise,
the barracks would degenerate in-
to a pig sty. Lets face it, thats
the way they think.
We can take control over our
barracks. We live there. It is
our home and we ought to be able
to determine the state of clean-
liness, the arrangement of bunks
and our overall life style.
Think about it brothers. Isn't
this really imperialism? Some-
body coming in from the outside
with power enforcing his will on
_~
,USe
Christmas 1969 BRAGG BRAGG BRIEFS
THE BIRTH OF THE BLACK BRIGADE
~In those fleeting days since the rect. Now is the time for all black are being loosen-a and many of our
last issue of Brags Briefs, The G.I.'s to add their voices éollec; orothers are walking out on the
~Black Brigade has forms: it's 8 hard- tively to th. demand for imuediate entire scene of being a military
core center and is steadily attrac= and constructive changes within the Minded brainwashed uncle tom.
ting those colesrned ingividuals current military system. NOW! Now These people have no desire to
who mee uo the backbone of the mi-ang not tommorow Bor -to wait for suffer those thousand unnatural
ittary eatablishnent. Black people tommorow is to walt for a rerun of shocks which their minds are not
in the ailitary have been so com- yesterday. And this is exactly what heir to. They have seen how a
Dlacent snd passively non-thinking % 1ot of brothers intend to jo, to training program (Airborne, Ranger,
for so long that the mere whisper wait for tommorow(iS) and *tom? Green Berets, etc.) laced with
rebellion, of any sort, becomes a 4. petween. This is exactly what nationalistic propoganda can
booming challence to their manhood. type Arny wents of all it's draf- instill a mechanical like obedi-
So fsr, the challenge has been met tees and enlistees! Complete and ance to the point of actually
from every unit on 90st, and as the total submission to the system! Any Substituting his normal behav~
sun rises each morning it shines thing less would be considered a ior.But other Black Soldiers are
upon a new face in the Brigade. me defect in moral cherecter. And still being sent to Nam to pro-
mrtgade was very late in coming whenever some individual generates tect America's myths. Black
n fact, territy so, but as the 014 enoush gall to stand uo end raise Brothers are still dying over
cay ing goes better late then never his fist at the monster he is then 8�,�as as a result of obeying the
Before the advent of The Black 5.4144 to be in need of discipline to Prime directive established for a
Brigade the only real outlet for correct tne deféciency in his nora] finished and brainwashed product
erievances against the oopressive- character. Thus one to the princiole°f the system.
racist nature of the military was of the Brigade is to serve as a per There is no need for such
barracks talk",'latrine bitching manent reminder to the Westmorelands S¥Stematic genocide to continue!
and letters. to congressmen that Throckmatons. and Tolsons that ag J@ea8 have been put forward,
would usually end up in file 13. Black m letters have been itt
3 8 en in a racist society our written,
eee orivate and oublic in- moral iy hes ge Ses in life rel not telephone calls have been made,
erfeat has increased and the chan- enged where our indentur-ed lives (Continued Page 7)
nels of comnunication are more di- begin. -
| ° e They must also be made to rea-
Racial Seminars lice tuet beseune bur hodiee
° © are contwolled that this is
a Beginning? no reason to think that our minds
The brass at Ft Bragg have re- are also.
cently admitted that i on isa Freedom or thoucht is considered
race problem in the Army and es- to be a communist plot by some of
pecially here at the home of the the babbling mentalities of our
Airborne. To combat this problen, brass. The chains of oppression
seminars were held in the various
units here at Bragg. The purpose
was to find out to what extent
there is a problem and how it can
be solved.
The seminars were attended by
black militants, uncle toms, white
militants, white racists, and a
hand full of high ranking officers
and enlisted men. As the militants
tried to point out, racism is a
leach in tof@ays Army. They also
meade some demands to end this dis-
susting reality, such as a new
haircut standard that would let
the men look like the individuals
they are. This has been accomplish-
ed and hair is now allowed to grow
four inches on the top and two in-
ches on the sides for both black
and white. Other demands were that
the Army quit channeling the black
man into dirt MOS's such as infan-
try, artillery, and cook and start
giving them clerical MOS's, that
the Army initiate black studies.
It was pointed out that the Army
could curve some of the racism by
giving black studies that would
show that American history is white
washed and that both the black and
the white man have been led to be-
lieve that the black man has been
the blood sucker on the Great Soc-
iety. It was also brought up that
any leader in the Army should read
both The Autobiogravhy of Malcolm
X and Eldridge Cleaver's ~Sou
Ice, that this would be prerequi-
site to a better understanding of
the black man.
Whether anything will be done
is difficult to say; but if the
military leaders do not attempt
to solve this problem, then it is
up to the black and white milit-
ants to end this disease before it
ends uS.
ALL | SAID WAS HO,HO,HO!
Christmas 1969 BRAGG BRIEFS
Paul J. Wykes, 21, from Indianapolis, Indiana, was discharzed
from the Army vecemver 5, 1959.
The ~nformation concerning ais military offenses, confinenient
and subsequent zgeneral discharze; includinz his interpretation of
the stockade situation at Fort 3rasg, was transcribed from several
interviews which followed his release fron the fort sraz, stockade
on Thanksgivine Day.
To review, Wykes decided, after some 1% months in the Army, 12 of
these in Special Forces Training Groun, that he and the nilitary were
unalterably incompatible and that he would nursue an administrative
discharge on whatever grounds and of whatever description the Army
needed to justify his elimination,
Durins is first vear in the Arnv, Yvkes collected tree Article
15's; one in basic training, one in AIT (91A, medical) at fort San
tiouston, Texas, and another during 913 Snecial forces iiedical Aid-
man's ZSourse, also at Fort San Ad6uston--all for AdOu,
Last August, en route from Fort Sam douston back to fort 4rag3,
Wykes took another unauthorized absence, this time to Canada for 29
days.
"This going to Sanada," wWykes said, "was kind of foolish, really.
I wanted out of the Army, not just freedom to visit Sanada. Jith
what I think I want out of Life and from myself, the Army is a pret-
ty useless investment and a very desradinzg one nersonally. Vietnam
and the volitical situation had very, little if anythins to do with
it, I'm against the war, as everybodv seems to be, and not very
proud of~our system of government, but I don't see that as a valid
issue when what you're trying to say has nothing to do with build-
ings in Washington or a war thousands of miles away. I think there
are better and more basic reasons for being against the Army than
the Vietnam war.
"I tried to get this across to my CO when I got back froin Canada
the first time. We talked about this a few times but I couldn't get
it over to him that I wanted out, I was fined twenty-nine dollars
for the AWOL, That's a dollar a dav, I don't know if that was in-
tended to pacify me or what. The CO seemed a Little exasnerated
that one of his charses didn't want to be a green beret anymore, Il
think he understood my wanting to get out of the Arny easier than
he could understand my having to get out of Special forces in order
to get out of the Army. It was hard to talk with him because we
obviously weren't talking about the same things. They just can't
understand what you mean when you get into the area of patriotism
and where your responsibilities lie. It's a cut and dried issue to
someone who's invested his Life in the army,
"It became apoarent the CO wasn't going to do anything," wWykes
continued, "He came right out and said, 'I can't get you out on
just this," referrin= to my record of AVWOLs, de kind of left it
hanging there. The implication was pretty obvious, thouzh 1 would
be the last one to say he was telline me to take off again, which Il
did--this time for about 20 davs, when I-sot »ack he acted pissed
off and so on, I think he was hoping against hope that 1 was bluf-
fing. I actually had to prove to them
Ccorrizible, de (the company commander) offered to forget the Last
AWOL if I'd agree to be trained in another 0S, in another company
of course. He even offered to send me back to fort Sam for another
crack at medicine, It was at this time that I demanded a special
court martial,
by my actions, that I was in-
Page Christmas 1909
OFFICIAL BRAGG BRIEFS INTERVIEW
"Kit was Kine -of ftunny, They were terninatins cuvs (from Snecial
Forces) for putting their hands ~in their vockets,"
fykes was tried in Snvecial Sourt, convicted of 20 davs AOL
and fined over 3200.99 with two «months confinement at hard Labor,
Guring which tine his discharze:was to be processed,
«| ale ule
erivate s-l Vykes first entesmed the stockade in October,
"I cot an orientation tre first day," he said. "I was told by
the captain, ~You're not here to be vnunishied, you're here to be re-
hasilitated,'"
"You said you requested solitary confinement,"
"Yes, I didn't know what the: stockade was soing to be like, I
wanted to »e alone and I didn't:want to be in a vosition where I'd
be tempted to escane,
"Of course requesting A-block was a direct threat to their sys-
tem of punishment. If you ask for something you obviously aren't
threatened by it. If it sot out that all the prisoners were re-
questing solitary, and few of them do, the stockade would have
nothing to threaten the prisoners with, since presumably that's the
worst place to be in the stockade....so we joked about it and he
(the cantain) sugsested I so to 3-block, which I did. I made a
point of telling him I didn't consider myself a run-of-the-mill
prisoner, de said, ~Yeah, everybody thinks he's special,'"
fykes remained in 3-block and later C-block (minimum security)
for approximately two weeks unt#l he was released to the parolee
barracks, while on parolee status Jykes performed as a fireman at
the Spring Area theatre, ile was: returned to the stockade when his
brother's automobile, which he was not authorized to drive, was
Giscovered parked outside the parolee barracks, The car was in-
spected and a shaving kit, which he had been holding for an AdOL,
now deserted, frienc¢, was found: to contain some pills. ("I- think
they were tetracyclene.") The pills were examined and thouzh they
were apparently found harmless and charges were dropped, Wykes re-
mained in the stockade until fhankssiving vay, some two weeks Later,
je again requested A-block,
"They let me right in this time," said dykes,
"hat goes on in A-block?!!
"In the sweat box nothing goes on, You get rabbit food and a
lot of sleep, In the cell block the guards come around once in a-
while and talk philosovhy with you."
Uvnat.kind of ohilosonhy?"
"Confinement ethics,"
"What else?"
"The major comes around about once a day, It's just a chore he
has to do every dav. . You're supposed to have bloused boots, a
Shave and a haircut, tovody does, de inspects, lie's usually ac-
companied by a Lieutenant colonel,
"Picture a Long building with twenty individual cells. They kind
of so throush there and ask everybody if they're being treated Ok,
how they're doing. verybody says fine and they just scoot on, es-
pecially if someone Looks like he wants to say something....
"One day the Provost i~arshall was coming around to see that the
place was secured, to see that the guards were doing their jobs,
that the place was clean and the cells locked,
"Always, before they come through, the block commander shakes
you down, All they want you to have in there is the 3ible. J
left my cell unlocked, ~Lieutenant Colonel came by and asked
me if 1 was. getting the information I needed for my article. I'd
told them lL was thinkins of doing an article on stockade conditions,
Lieutenant Colonel __"s_ asked me how I was doing and 1 said fine
and kicked the door open into his face. Knocked his hat down over
his eyes, Ue told the guard to shut the door and walked out,"
"Did you have any trouble in the stockade?"
"iio, you know, The-usual things, 1 sot in a couple fights. ~
almost got snot once, I told you about that,"
"Jould you 20 over it again?�
"Iwas sittine on this Loz.about. five yards from the fence, [his
suard was about ten yards from the other: side of the fence. de was
joking with another guard who was between him and me, He was tel-
ling him to get his ass moving or somethings, that he'd better set
behind the telephone nole if he wanted to be safe, ie was fooling
around with his shotzun and kind of pointing it at the other guard,
"Je had it at his hip. de wasn't aiming and when it went off Il
heard it go whoosh right over my head. Scared the hell out of me,
"Imnediately some iiCO's and Gantain Care out and approached
me, lL was yellinz at the guard, ie told me to shut up or he'd ~nut
acap in my ass,' de was still insolent enough to come un with a
remark Like that. I1 started tellin, -the captain what happened and
he asked me, 'Are you aware of the maximun range of a shotsun?!
and I said, "Yes, and it's well) over twenty yards." sy this time
the suard had moved away from the fence and the cantain went over
and started talkin; to hii, se told the captain he'd droppec the
weapon, which is an outrisht Lie, and the captain seemed to concur
with. that, ,
BRAGG BRIEFS Page 5
ISTON, Nac;
| "I told hin he didn't dron the weanon, I admitted it could
lave sone off by accident, I don't know if they took any action
On that tuar Ar Not: Ll know they unloaded his shotzun, L dont
even think they're sunnosed to ave Loaded zuns in that situation.
Mm:
2ne Wav tne wriole thine was isnored, after Dorenus was thrown in
\
Py LL l- £, ta. oe 94 ARH b 4 pe 3 « .
eee aee Or Carowine a.niece of-'vood in the fire, isea little ab-
surd,
"You see so much compromising in the stocxade, so many contra-
Gictions, They're aware of druz traffic to the point that if they
wanted to they could tet a Lot of guys busted. 1 think thats a
form of compromise on their vart. If they went in there and really
made an effort to do something about it they'd have a lot more
trouble with the prisoners than they do now. I think it's good
that they don't bust everybody but they're not doing it for ben-
evolent reasons, The stoclae can't afford to.do that,
"Anotner example of this is the way they deal with the Christ-
mas season, with say, two hundred zuys in the stockade, they know
a lot of these tuys are goins to escape around Christmas, If they
don't let these oveonvle,zo, they go anyway. christmas is a bad
time to be in the stoclkade,"
"In December a young man's fancy turns to escape?"
"That's funny. so, suys just don't care, The people in charge
aren't stupid, They're fairly lenient in the courts with guys com-
ins in around this time. If too many neople escaped it would bring
a Lot of heat down on the major and tne cantain, so if you go AWOL
in December you might get an Article 15, The same offense in Jan-
uary, after the holidavs, mizht set you six months,"
"You snoke of racial tension in the stockade,"
"hots this guy, Colonel Jeane? who says there's no racial trou-
ble in the 32nc?"
"i think it's General Deane,"
Yell, he's rizht. They're all in the stockade, lost of the
people in the stockade are black and I'd say most of these are from
the 32nc¢,
"You take a guy out of darlem or Vatts,. de spends time in Viet-
nam, he comes back, To be discritiinated against after he's been 9-
ver there, to be thtotm in the stockade for a relatively minor. of-
fense....wien a bunch of these suys are thrown together in the same
environment it's a particular Letdown, Jiaybe some national pride
had been instillec in them in Vietnam, A Lot of them feel this way.
And then to come back� and *zet shot risht back down, To be told,
"Yeah, man, it's all right for you to fight for.us,* but let one of
them miss a formation or a detail, The company commanders sense the
violence in these suys, they're afraid of it,.they. can't deal with
ae
"Instead of the service recognizing this, it throws them in an
environment exactly suited to get them in more trouble, All the
prisoners are shown no regard as human beings, but blacks even less,
iykes continued, "The blacks can't buck the stockade but they'Ll
buck the white zuy, any white guy, just Like the guys in the regue
lar units get vissed off at the first sergeant or the KP pusher,
You attack the wronz thing, This feeling is directed more towards
the other prisoners than the guards, It's been a major cause of
near riots, .othine dramatic, but you can see it developing. It's
soing to continue to cevelop until you set someone in there who's
less concerned with nunitive measures and more concerned with re-
habilitatins these prisoners, if that's possible in the Army, This
should be their purpose, especially when most of these guys are in
there for such vetty thines, I'm aware that any prisoner is hard
to deal with but there are a lot of borderline cases that could have
zone either way if someone had been there with something besides
* + ° w
handcuffs. It's something you can't ignore while you're in there.
"If they see any sign of a disruptive quality in a-.person, like
Lioore, who was canable of inciting riots, they do their damndest to
pacify him, vhen that doesn't succeed they send you to A-block, a-
way from the sheep who, by Army criteria, are not dangerous, They
try to put any intelligence where it's least harmful. If you're
not thinking about how stupid the guards are, if you're not ques-
tioning, if there's no one to Light the snark, you go ahead Like a
zombie, They want vou to feel this way, The system thrives on it,
[The methods used to restrain truth and independence in society it-
self are quite similar to the way the Army does it, just a great
deal more subtle, . Sven after you get out they want you to have a
Little Army Slood in you.
xX OED To
BE TBAT WORX...
BUT FORTONATELNY
= ANE A
PERCONAL
RELATONSAIP GOTH
THE UNINERSE To
SO STAIN ME--
(Continued : Page 8)
Poo KNOD, BILL.
TM BECOMING
GUGHTLY SUSPICIOUS
OF COR LEADERS.
Christmas 1909 BRAGG BRIEFS
A DETERMINED MARCH IN A
SMALL SOUTHERN IOWN
Bi
te g
, - j aaa
_ , ; -
a ¥ aM = eS
a ; bu aaa oe. = a ;
a . . :
eS
GPBrOoOHmwy otPEO WwW KW DOOM?
FREEDOM 2
% ~
aS or sVeeta fee
z tet S
PREABON GF sv,
PRE ME Fem be 2
ee
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HwmWOu
CHP
Ln ae ORR : an! , oH ian populace is behind their efforts.
EEN el NE i ah el Additionally, it will show President
present at the demonstration, and Nixon that concientious Americans
we urge the GIs who failed to
come for fear of official retal- FAYETTEVILLE,N.C. Witt = hd hah ait hgall gti ay
lation to take this into consider-«
tained the crowd with guitar and sue United States: to-change its
4 ; : pics
ation and come to the next march, singing, and Grace Paley who just EF teernet on ee nate
Oa " wes he Meech of minor recently returned from North Viet- dom".
aa spits. : ed ae SS det ~" nam after negotiating. the release According to the YAF hecklers
B tne ath 4 ah oad = he we of several American prisofiers, (all seven of them that showed up
~ : i rts yg ily nt a0 Grace told of the feelings of the for the rally), everyone who par-
a eving tn cheddar i ted narliarsk North Vietnamese: pegpie Seward The 41 cineted in the demonstration are
South Set enki ua we eg American peace movement, and des- communists and should be shot, -
hee sage Fg w Pulle cribed some of the chaos and des- They sincerely believe that move-
nce ven Oe Wee An ae ve es truction brought down upon the ments of this type hurt the Amer-
ane of the main speakers o 5 af Y* Vietnamese people by American bomb- ican war effort and that they will
Infortunately, by ghe time Dr ie ing missions over the North, do nothing ~ih vil than prolong the
ingston was scheduled to speak, ha Just what will result from ee, dae itciwa bs es thet Seta
veather had turned cold, and people ,,,. demonstration is debatable. than prolonging red a they will
FORD PSELNRANE : tO SUerGe~ FOF by Pai According to the majority of those put enough pressure on rt: adminis-=
ie extend ypc a seg to ae who actively participated, nothing {ration fo hake them adopt a more
Res Oe aie wits -onaure. shat 1f he major will come of it, The only realistic withdrawal plan than the
omes back again, he will be one real accomplishment will be to one presently in effect,
f the first 2 agent ane further unite the soldtrs in their x i aire
resent were Bill Carmichael of
movement i h 3 *
taleigh, North Carolina who enter- nam sed one Remar a (Continued Page 7)
Christmas 1909
(Continued from Page 6)
Also eee at at the rally were
Dave Shulman, GI*s United; Jim Wann,
Chapel Hill Folk Singer; and MC,
Jim Seiler, also from GI's United.
The demonstration, which was
approximately 650 strong would
have been much larger except for
the fact that several busses chars
tered by supporters from Winston
Salem were cancelled at the last
moment by the bus company. Could
this have been done because of out-
Side pressures from some government-
al organization?
In addition, the Fort Bragg brass
apparently became rather paranoid
over the entire situation, because
many of the units on post who are
normally off duty on Saturdays were
put on such transparent details as
area beautification", To these
Suppressed GI*s, we extend our sin-=
cere hope that they will be able
to fight their way through mili-
tary oppression and make it to the
next demonstration,
All in all, however, the march
was an outstanding success and we
of GI's United hope to be able to
hold several more in the near future,
Keep your eyes and ears open and
perhaps you will hear of the next
one in time despite the censorship
and oppression practiced by the
military dictatorship we presently
live under,
rr
vacate a state ete atte a ete ete ate ete ets ete tetetetetetetateteteteteteteMeMehahe*.*.%.8.9.9.8.9 6.8 0 6 6 6 6 6 0 0 2 6,%,%,%,0,0,9,9, 9.0.0 8.8
resetete ete eres ete ate state ete ne ats ete ate te tate eeeee test ee Oe bere ete ee ete ete ta te ete etete a store e185. ts ha eta ats a tetetete,
pe II DBD OO BO a a a a a a I at
eee re ee ain a a etn eta a aha ao a atete ning a aPa a sere ea nin a ain aia
trainees now suing the govern=
ment from Ft. Bragg USATCI,
is suing for a sum of $85,00C,0¢
due to the illegality of his
induction.
(Continued from Page 3)
but still the same racist rhet=
oric aboundse Now is the time for
action, the chains are loosening
and the coming changes will bury
those who refuse to find out
where its at. The Black Brigade
is offering directions, plans are
being made for the publishing of
@& newpaper for the Black G.I-°,
Do It Loud!; the first issue
should appear in January. The
Black Brigade is offering every
Brother a chance to do something
for his people! The Black Brigade
is here to stay until every vestige
of rscism has been destroyedl
"A slave who dies of natural
causes cannot balsnce the weight
of two dead flies on the scales
of eternity!" Eldridge Cleaver,
JOIN USPOWERTOTHEPEOPLEJOINUSPOWE
ARE THERE NO CIVILIANS m VIETNAM das
Ah am the Ghost of Vietnam Past ... r
Page 7
Conrad inte Les Angeles Times
PUERTO RICAN BISHOP TO VISIT FAYETTEVILLE
Bishoo Parilla, a native of the the
exploited American Territory of
Puerto Rico, is to visit FPayette-
ville January 7, 1969.«
Bishop Parilla is touring the
entire East Coast speaking out
against Americ sn Imocrialism and
Viet Name
While in North Carolina the
Bishov will sveak at stockades in
Camp LeJune and Ft, Bragg.
Bishop Parilla will be attacke
ing the corporate interest in the
American Government. The corvor-
ate interest that has vut us in
Viet Nam andkept us theré for
45,000 lives, The same corporate
interest that is keeping the
wages of Puerto Ricans, Guatemal-
ians, Asians, and countless
others at a sub-standard level.
He will attack every lie the
Government has thrown the Amer-
ican »eople for its inexcusable
involvement in Viet Nam,
Arrangements are underway for
a speaking engagement in Fayette-
Ville, 2180-6
GeI.'s United recognizes this
as extrémely béneficial to the .
soldiers of Ft. Bragg as well ag
Ngee : | aah!
a
citazens of Payetteville, for
now even the Catholic Church is
stepping in and pointing a finger
at the many imperialistic policies
of our United States Government,
ARE YOU A CO?
CO counselling is now taking
Place at the Quaker House, 324
Ray Ave., Fayetteville. Tel.
483-5279. 27% of all in service
CO applications have been ap-=
proved by DA.
PCEM BY THE MAIL
ARMY GREEN
Army green, army blue
While in the army there's nothing to do
Army green, Army red
After the shot the soldier bled.
Army green, army white
Souatey the chief will see the light
Army green, army brown
a lots of bodies on the ground.
Army green, army black
, Army lifers stab you in the back
Army green, army tan
Eating C-rations from a dirty can.
Army green, army pink
I think the army really stinks
Army green, army true :
A lifers poem just for you. ~
Christmas 1969 BRAGG BrleFS Page &
(Continued from Page 5) S) f ] BS CR IB BD
"The guy in the cell next to me in A-»dlock had a variation of
2: i 7 ' har 7; hy } "Satch.2?? is i
the vatch 22 theory. for the venefit of the lifers, vatcn 22 is Since there is a tremendous
a book by Josenh Jieller, This euy said the odds are stacked five phabiake chess rath fei te bee
to one against you in the Army. For every inch you gain you Lose an GI's ans a eras a
2 ; 2: . ; + 8 Ny i =~ % Ie carhind \ =
five, That's why you have to make big gains, ut all the big pit iie A Rit Sin a i the Fay-
gains are illegal. very time you put one over on the army they Ghat ti acte Bragge-Sorinc oo
throw your ass in the stockade, you can do anything you want to ee Se
: : ; ; area, Brasg Briefs has unfurled
make your life better in the Army, »ut for every hour of freedom you (ea Shrnet Por eke. eee a ae
zet five hours of confinement. Of course stockade time is bad time. eetabitehineg inte ot hese
Tais sives you more time to think of new and better ways to »be free, Be eee og
nat it boils down to is that you're destined to Lose 2[S becomes BEA) VER BOONE OUT ORS MERLE
SSE ats ene a ? Sinai te = = Si 63 system by publishing the news
ue "D9 ou stip os body is going to believe what you've been say oF wena as Nee ene e Os 2 neM
y Pemaiad Y ° ad oe . y ae ee "awckeninge�"� in order to expose
the Oppressiveness of the pre-e
aan : , ; ¢ ; DI
[The ones who already believe it will, ~ost of the people at the sent system and to vrovide a
a * + * ~ 4 o . Le , +
ee map iare ts. eae relieved eS eros oo and pon Pari public forum for the opinions
i d m. nt hink 2,
lia : f°) iscredit your paver, ~1 on 1 they're going of. ita readere.
to let it bother them much,"
We, : } | q ring ' t Suna Pll #
Are they going to bother denying what you're sayinz? Por thosé who would ltke to re«
Tae a L- T! = rr ' v - p
t ree ee . geet Anno aad ee O95 ae mths: tig rset ceive Bragg Briefs, mail for your
ac e honesty o is, le nem, agnew attacks .ewsweek, zuess subscription today! Send your
these guys can attack 3rage 3riefs. If I feel guilty about anything Wane ands address. ta%
v . . . + e cA Cc i CALA 7. ®
it's that I've been-vaid to be in the service. I can't gear my sense
of honesty to accommodate race Briefs, General Tolson, or whoever, Gi-le United
If I choose to try not to be dishonest it's not soinz to make any Se 439 a
difference, I can afford to be fanatical about this. There are ware - ice
Spring Lake, NeCe
things than to be fanatical about your convictions,
"The paper should be a symbol of this integrity, &enercussions To helo mailinse costs. the fol
\ | L Lh5 4 5 vVtitt =
for printing this, from the standpoint of who's going to get burned ~: aes -
eer ' , i Ss ae "1 = lowing donations:
and who isn't--all that's pretty vetty if you're trying to do what - %
pL Active Duty GI's
you say you are,"
"Did Ss an fforts being made to improve stockade condi- re
: ee 7 ERO ve ~3 Students
$5 Civilians
ing c i
tions?"
"I talked with several officers while I was there, Major
gy RRNA 3a i
: fi
felt Like he was being sandwiched. He's a sociologist and he prob-
ably knows what to do, but those who have authority over him aren't
going to let him do anything that interferes with their job, which
is to keep things as quiet as possible, The prisoners don't see
him as a friend, They see-him as puppet,
"Do you think General Tolson, for instance, is aware of conditions
in the stockade?"
"The stockade was here long before Tolson, In that sense he
isn't responsible for what goes on there. Tolson does make a point
I know that. I dat
of-seeing-every general court martial prisoner,
know what his motives are, You can say fnat Tolson*sontver=sen-
eral. 1 don't feel safe talking about Tolson but I think vou'd have
to say he knows about these things,
"de might see the futility in trying to deal with it. fort irams
isn't the worst stockade. It's easy for a Lot of these incidents to
get Lost on the way to Tolson. As far as I'm concerned, ciajor
could keep everything right in the comnound, -
"As soon as you start Looking for someone to blame, or someone to We will Bury You!
change it, you've sot to look to yourself, If you can sense that
something is wrong and you're hothered by it, then you've got to as- Quote by:
5 Richard M. Nixon
sume other people are aware of these problems too.,. ideally, they
should go away, but instead of Looking for other people to do the « Nikita S. Khruschev
right thing, be a Little ezotistical if that's what it takes."
"an Army full of esotistical vrivates isn't goins to change any- Bragg Briefs is published Sys
thing, is it?"
De ? oa . ry + an
0, it's very negative. ~ Look at me, I've been in the stockade, ~ , ;
i've been in the Army, what am 1 goings to do? othinz, 1 guarantee ze S UNITED Against the War in
you, You can attribute that to selfishness, ~You've ot to look a ietnam rn
little beyond the Army to resolve sone of these things. The vnroblem P.O. Box +37
in the Army, everyone's biczest goal is getting out," Spring Lake, N.C. 28390
bt
Letters to the Editors are en-
A liberal is a man who leaves the You can jail a revolutionary but couraged,
room when the fight berins, you can't jail a revolution,
EDITORIAL BOARD
Heywood Brown Journalist
WORKFORPEACEJORKFORPEACHEWORKFORPR
DON' TLEAVETYEROOMDON ! TLRAVETHEROO : ACTIVE DUTY GIs: Richard A. Yahr-
eo ,JFK Center, David G. Shulman-
j USAGTC, David O*Brien-USATCI,
Sees elie ee James
er- » David J. Wachter-
SMASH Spring gr Fae | 50th Sig, J. Spooky Gerlat-12th
Sasi cca Ls ore jpPt, Bill Fossat-JFK Center,
\ Harold Price-JFK Center,
rn lWwilliam Carothers-12th Spt,
lFrederick Penn-50th Sig,
Walter Guntharp-35th Sig Gp.,
ies Parish-50th Sig,
|[CIVILIAN: Aaron Means(PFC-ret),
[Dean Holland(SP4-ret), Allen
|Halllmark(SP5-ret), Bruce Pat-
jerson(SP4-ret)
Di ari
fern ee Poems by "The Mail"
. 7
oe
af i Fad
BRAGG BRIEFS
P.O. Box 437
39ViSs0d's'n
413A3S00N a NIDINGAS